List of countries that have gained independence from the United Kingdom

Below are lists of the countries and territories that were formerly ruled or administered by the United Kingdom or part of the British Empire (including military occupations that did not retain the pre-war central government), with their independence days. Some countries did not gain their independence on a single date, therefore the latest day of independence is shown with a breakdown of dates further down. A total of 65 countries have claimed their independence from the British Empire/United Kingdom.^[1]

Colonies, protectorates, and mandates

Country	Pre-independence name (if different)	Date	Year of independence or first stage	Notes
Afghanistan		19 August	1919	Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919[2]
Antigua and Barbuda	Antigua, Leeward Islands[lower-alpha 1]	1 November	1981	Antigua Termination of Association Order[3]
Bahrain	British Protectorate Of Bahrain	15 August	1971	Now an independent kingdom outside the Commonwealth.
Barbados		30 November	1966	Barbados Independence Act 1966 - now an independent republic in the Commonwealth of Nations since 30 November 2021.
Belize	British Honduras	21 September	1981	September Celebrations[4]
Botswana	Bechuanaland	30 September	1966	Botswana Independence Act 1966[5]
Brunei		1 January	1984	[6]
Cyprus		16 August	1960	Cyprus Independence Day is commonly celebrated on 1 October.[7]
Dominica	Dominica, Windward Islands[lower-alpha 1]	3 November	1978
Egypt		28 February	1922	Control over the Suez Canal Zone was maintained until 1956.
Eswatini		6 September	1968	Initially called Swaziland, which was also its pre-independence name. Renamed eSwatini by King Mswati III in April 2018.
Fiji		10 October	1970	Fiji has been a Commonwealth republic since 1997.
Ghana	Gold Coast, British Togoland (Togoland got absorbed into the Gold Coast in 1957)	6 March	1957	Became a Commonwealth republic on 1 July 1960.
Grenada	Grenada, Windward Islands[lower-alpha 1]	7 February	1974	Independence Day (Grenada)
Guyana	British Guiana	26 May	1966	Became a republic in 1970.
India	British India	15 August	1947	Indian Independence Act 1947[8]
Iraq		3 October	1932	Pursuant to the British Mandate for Mesopotamia
Israel	Mandatory Palestine	14 May	1948	End of British mandate  Palestine declared independence from Israel on 15 November 1988.
Jamaica		6 August	1962	Independence Day (6 August)
Jordan	Transjordan	25 May	1946	Now an independent monarchy outside the Commonwealth.
Kenya		12 December	1963	Dominion of Kenya declared in 1963. Republic declared exactly 1 year later.
Kiribati	Gilbert and Ellice Islands	12 July	1979
Kuwait	British kuwaiti Protectorate	19 June	1961	Now an independent monarchy outside the Commonwealth.
Lesotho	Basutoland	4 October	1966	Now an independent monarchy inside the Commonwealth.
Libya		24 December	1951	From 1943 to 1951 Libya was under the control of Britain and France. On 24 December 1951, Libya declared its independence and became the United Kingdom of Libya.
Malawi	Nyasaland	6 July	1964	Dominion of Malawi declared in 1964. Republic declared exactly 2 years later.
Malaya		31 August	1957	Federation of Malaya Independence Act 1957.
Maldives		26 July	1965	Became an independent kingdom outside the Commonwealth in 1965. Became a republic in 1968. Became a Commonwealth republic in 1982. Temporarily a republic outside the Commonwealth from 2016 until 1 February 2020, when the Maldives returned.
Malta		21 September	1964	This occurred in spite of the 1956 Maltese United Kingdom integration referendum, but in accordance with 1964 Maltese constitutional referendum. Malta became a republic on 13 December 1974.
Mauritius		12 March	1968	Dominion of Mauritius declared in 1968. Republic declared in 1992.
Myanmar		4 January	1948	Gained independence as a republic outside the Commonwealth as Burma. Renamed Myanmar by the military dictatorship in 1989, but still officially known by the United Kingdom government as Burma.
Nauru		31 January	1968	Independence from the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand on 31 January 1968.
Nigeria		1 October	1960	Took in Northern Cameroons
Oman	Sultanate of Muscat and Oman	20 December	1970	Now an independent monarchy outside the Commonwealth.
Pakistan	British India	14 August	1947	Partition of India  Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan on 26 March 1971.
Qatar	British Qatari Protectorate	3 September	1971	Now an independent monarchy outside the Commonwealth.
Saint Lucia	St Lucia, Windward Islands[lower-alpha 1]	22 February	1979
Saint Kitts and Nevis	St Kitts–Nevis and Anguilla, Leeward Islands[lower-alpha 1]	19 September	1983
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	St Vincent, Windward Islands[lower-alpha 1]	27 October	1979
Seychelles		29 June	1976
Sierra Leone		27 April	1961	Dominion of Sierra Leone declared in 1961. Republic declared in 1971.
Solomon Islands	British Solomon Islands	7 July	1978
Somaliland	British Somaliland Protectorate	26 June	1960	The British Somaliland Protectorate gained independence on 26 June 1960 then united with the Trust Territory of Somalia on 1 July 1960 to form the Somali Republic, but later broke away and unilaterally declared independence in 1991, which is internationally unrecognised.
South Yemen	Protectorate of South Arabia Federation of South Arabia	30 November	1967	Merged with  North Yemen to form  Yemen in 1990
Sri Lanka	Ceylon	4 February	1948	Gained independence as the Dominion of Ceylon. Renamed Sri Lanka in 1972 upon being declared a republic.
Sudan		1 January	1956	South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011.
Tanganyika		9 December	1961	Tanganyika became independent on 9 December 1961. It joined with Zanzibar on 25 April 1964 to form  Tanzania.
The Bahamas		10 July	1973	Bahamas Independence Act 1973[9]
The Gambia	Gambia	18 February	1965	Gained independence as a Dominion. Republic declared in 1970. Temporarily became a republic outside the Commonwealth from 2013 to 8 February 2018, when it returned.
Tonga		4 June	1970
Trinidad and Tobago		31 August	1962	Independence Day (August 31st)[10]
Tuvalu	Gilbert and Ellice Islands	1 October	1978
Uganda		9 October	1962
United Arab Emirates	Trucial States	2 December	1971	National Day (United Arab Emirates)
United States	Thirteen American Colonies	4 July	1776	Fourth of July. Declaration of Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1776. British government recognized independence in 1783 with the Treaty of Paris.
Vanuatu	New Hebrides	30 July	1980	Independence from United Kingdom and France in 1980. Vanuatu is a Commonwealth republic.
Zambia	Northern Rhodesia	24 October	1964
Zanzibar		10 December	1963	Zanzibar became independent on 10 December 1963. Sultanate of Zanzibar overthrown in the Zanzibar Revolution, which created a short-lived republic. It joined with Tanganyika on 25 April 1964 to form  Tanzania.
Zimbabwe	Southern Rhodesia and Rhodesia	18 April	1980	Southern Rhodesia declared independence from United Kingdom on 11 November 1965 as  Rhodesia, which was not internationally recognized. Rhodesia transitioned to majority rule as  Zimbabwe-Rhodesia on 1 June 1979 with a view to eventual international recognition, but instead returned to British control under the Lancaster House Agreement followed by internationally recognised independence in 1980 as  Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth, but withdrew in December 2003. Zimbabwe is in the process of returning to its membership of the Commonwealth.

Evolution of dominions to independence

Country	Date of Dominion status	Date of adoption of the Statute of Westminster	Date of final relinquishment of British powers	Final event in question.	Notes
Australia	1 January 1901	9 October 1942†[lower-alpha 2]	3 March 1986	Australia Act 1986	Papua New Guinea gained independence from Australia on 16 September 1975.
Canada	1 July 1867	11 December 1931	17 April 1982	Canada Act 1982	Quebec voted against independence from Canada in two referendums in 1980 and 1995.
Ireland	6 December 1922[lower-alpha 3]	12 November 1931	18 April 1949	Republic of Ireland Act and Ireland Act 1949	The 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic and 1919 Irish Declaration of Independence were never recognised by the UK but given symbolic priority by post-1922 Irish leaders. From the 1932 Irish election, successive governments unilaterally amended the state's status: the Constitution (Removal of Oath) Act on 3 May 1933 implicitly abrogated the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty; the 27th amendment and External Relations Act, both on 12 December 1936, attenuated the role of the monarchy; the enactment of the Constitution on 29 December 1937 established the office of President and definitively abolished all British powers over Ireland except diplomatic functions, which remained vested with King George VI; the Republic of Ireland Act, which transferred diplomatic functions to the President of Ireland, came into force on 18 April 1949 with Ireland formally leaving the British Commonwealth. Related UK statutes included the Éire (Confirmation of Agreements) Act 1938 and the Ireland Act 1949.
Dominion of Newfoundland	26 September 1907	—	17 April 1982	Canada Act 1982	Newfoundland voted to join Canada in 1948 in a 52–48 vote; this became effective on 31 March 1949.
New Zealand	26 September 1907	25 November 1947[lower-alpha 4]	13 December 1986	Constitution Act 1986	Declaration of Independence of New Zealand 1835, Treaty of Waitangi 1840, Dominion of New Zealand declared on 26 September 1907
South Africa	31 May 1910	11 December 1931	21 May 1961	South African Constitution of 1961	Namibia gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990.
Dominion of India (excl. Kingdom of Sikkim)	1947		1950
Ceylon	1948		1972
Dominion of Pakistan (incl.  Bangladesh and excl. Gwadar)	1947		1956

†Adopted by Australia in 1942, but was backdated to confirm the validity of legislation passed by the Australian Parliament during World War II.^[11][12]

Military occupations that did not retain the pre-war central government

Country	Pre-independence name (different)	Date	Year of independence or first stage	Notes
Iraq	Coalition Provisional Authority	28 June	2004	Jointly with the United States and Poland, as part of the Multi-National Force – Iraq which operated under United States leadership

Former British crown colonies that declared independence then later restored British rule

Country	Date	Year	Notes
Anguilla	12 July	1967	The isles of Anguilla were a dependency of Saint Kitts alongside Nevis. The ruling party administration for St. Kitts moved to make the Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla colony into a looser associated state status with the UK in 1967 much to the dismay of many in Anguilla, with agitation turning into the Anguillan Revolution; Anguilla's population moved in favour of returning to British authority in 1971 with full British Crown Colony status (renamed in 2002 as British Overseas Territory status) returning in 1980.
Rhodesia	11 November	1965	Southern Rhodesia declared independence from United Kingdom on 11 November 1965 as  Rhodesia, which was not internationally recognized. Rhodesia transitioned to majority rule as  Zimbabwe-Rhodesia on 1 June 1979 with a view to eventual international recognition, but instead returned to British control under the Lancaster House Agreement followed by internationally recognised independence in 1980 as  Zimbabwe.

British overseas territories independence/sovereignty referendums

Territory	Date	Year	Notes
Bermuda	16 August	1995	Bermudians voted against independence for the territory in a 1995 referendum by 73.6% to 25.7%.
Gibraltar	7 November	2002	Gibraltar held a referendum on whether or not to share sovereignty with Spain. 98.48% of voters rejected the proposal in favour of remaining solely a British overseas territory with only 1.02% supporting the proposal.
Falkland Islands	11 March	2013	Falkland Islanders voted in favour of remaining a British overseas territory by 99.8% to 0.2%.

Territories which were relinquished to other sovereign states

Territory	Recipient state	Date	Year	Notes
Aden Colony	Federation of South Arabia	18 January	1963
British Arctic Territories	Canada	31 July	1880	See Adjacent Territories Order 1880
Ashmore and Cartier Islands
Bay Islands	Honduras	30 April	1859	See Bay Islands § Colony of the Bay Islands and § Cession of the Colony to Honduras
British Columbia
Northern Cameroons	Nigeria	1 October	1961	British Mandate territory in West Africa. In the 1961 British Cameroons referendum, the Northern Cameroons voted to join Nigeria (which itself gained independence from the United Kingdom), while the Southern Cameroons voted to join the Republic of Cameroun (which itself gained independence from France).
Southern Cameroons	Cameroon	1 October	1961	British Mandate territory in West Africa. In the 1961 British Cameroons referendum, the Northern Cameroons voted to join Nigeria (which itself gained independence from the United Kingdom), while the Southern Cameroons voted to join the Republic of Cameroun (which itself gained independence from France).
Caprivi Strip - part of South West Africa, now part of Namibia
Christmas Island	Australia	1 October	1958	See Christmas Island § Transfer to Australia
Cocos (Keeling) Islands	Australia	23 November	1955	See Cocos (Keeling) Islands § Transfer to Australia
Cook Islands
Corsica
Dindings
British Occupation zone in Germany	Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)	23 May	1949	Nazi Germany occupied by Britain, France, the United States and the Soviet Union in 1945. Unlike in Austria, no German central government was retained in any of the occupation zones. The British and American occupation zones were merged in 1947 to form the Bizone, and the French zone was added into it in 1948. The resulting Trizone became host to a new German central government on 23 May 1949. The territories of the former Soviet zone — which had established a central government of its own called the German Democratic Republic — joined the Federal Republic on 3 October 1990.
Heligoland
Heard Island and McDonald Islands
Hong Kong	People's Republic of China	30 June	1997	In 1984 the British government signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration with China and agreed to turn over Hong Kong and its dependencies in 1997. British rule ended on 30 June 1997, with China taking over at midnight, 1 July 1997 (at end of the 99-year lease over the New Territories, along with the ceded Hong Kong Island and Kowloon).
United States of the Ionian Islands
Labuan
Malacca
Unfederated Malay States
Minorca
Mosquito Coast
North Borneo	Malaya[lower-alpha 5]	16 September	1963	British protectorate established in 1881. Proclaimed a Crown Colony in 1946, and became a part of Malaysia on 16 September 1963 as the state of Sabah.
Padang
Penang
Prince Edward Island
Providence Island colony
Ross Dependency
Sarawak	Malaya[lower-alpha 5]	16 September	1963	Independent Raj of Sarawak 1841-1946. Annexed by Britain as a Crown Colony in 1946, and became a part of Malaysia on 16 September 1963.
Singapore	Malaya[lower-alpha 5]	16 September	1963	Became self-governing on 3 June 1959, and became a part of Malaysia on 16 September 1963. Subsequently gained independence from Malaysia on the 9 August 1965.[13]
Surinam
Tokelau
Weihaiwei

Countries of the United Kingdom that have voted against independence

Country	Date	Year	Notes
Northern Ireland	8 March	1973	In a 1973 Northern Ireland referendum, voters in Northern Ireland were asked to decide if they wanted to remain in the United Kingdom or to leave and join with the Republic of Ireland. They voted in favour of the United Kingdom by 98.9% to 1.1%, although Irish Nationalists boycotted the vote.[14]
Scotland	18 September	2014	In the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, 55.3% of voters who qualified as residents of Scotland, chose 'No' to the question: 'Should Scotland be an independent country?' 44.7% of voters chose 'Yes'.[15] In March 2017, preliminary negotiations to begin to prepare an agreement to run a second referendum were proposed by the Scottish Parliament but were rejected out of hand by the Prime Minister. The proposal of preliminary negotiations was triggered by the Brexit vote, which saw a majority of voters in England and Wales vote to leave the EU while a majority in Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain.[16]

See also

• Self-determination
• Commonwealth of Nations
• List of national independence days
• Foreign relations of the United Kingdom
• Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
• Special Committee on Decolonization
• 1933 Western Australian secession referendum
• 1977 Nevis independence referendum

Notes

1. West Indies Associated States
2. Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 (effective from 1939)
3. Constitution of the Irish Free State
4. Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1947
5. Malaya renamed itself Malaysia on the same day

References

1. "Most countries to have gained independence from the same country". Guinness Book of World Records. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
2. Foschini, Fabrizio (21 September 2019). "The 1919 War of Independence (or third Anglo-Afghan War): a conflict the Afghans started (and ended)". Afghanistan Analysts Network. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
3. Staff Writer (5 November 2021). "Happy 40th Independence Anniversary Antigua and Barbuda". CARICOM.
4. Dyde, James (21 September 2021). "Belize Independence Day - 40 Images of Belize at 40". CentralAmerica.com. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
5. "Botswana Independence Act 1966".
6. "A look back at Brunei's first National Day". The Scoop. 23 February 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
7. "United Nations Member States". UN.org. Retrieved 4 November 2008.
8. "Indian Independence Act 1947" (PDF).
9. "Bahamas Independence Act 1973".
10. "INDEPENDENCE DAY".
11. "Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 (Cth)". National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
12. "Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942" (PDF). ComLaw. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
13. "Singapore profile — Timeline". BBC News. 10 May 2018.
14. Torrance, David (21 November 2019). "'Taking the border out of politics' – the Northern Ireland referendum of March 1973". The Constitution Unit Blog. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
15. Arnett, George (22 September 2014). "Scottish independence referendum: the result in three maps". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
16. Swann, Sean (28 October 2016). "Scottish independence and the polls: why Brexit is not a game changer". London School of Economics. Retrieved 16 November 2021.